This is what it was like to work at Google and why I ultimately quit my job there.
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I worked at Google for less than 1 full year, before putting in my resignation - I quit!
My experience working at Google was just as good as it's caked up to be on the movie The Internship with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.
Google does treat their employees very well and provides the most amazing benefits. Google provides free food to their employees - breakfast, lunch and sometimes even happy hour or dinner. Additionally, there is free coffee and snacks on every floor of every building in the world in what they refer to as a micro kitchen.
And yes, as a 'Noogler' they make you wear a helicopter hat your first week on the job.
In addition to the free food, which was my favorite thing about working at Google, in many locations they also provide exercise rooms and equipment, spa's with a credit each year for a 60 minute massage of your choice, napping rooms and pods, all the technology that you could want or need to work efficiently, unmatched financial benefits such as 401k retirement and health benefits.
The thing I honestly enjoyed the most about working there was the people. The vast majority of Googlers are extremely nice and welcoming people. There were also hundreds of people around the same age and experience level as me in the Austin, TX location, so it made it really easy to make friends and meet up outside of work. I have made some lifelong friendships with people I met working at Google.
So if everything was so amazing, why did I decide to quit my job at Google and leave?
I worked as a sales rep for Google Cloud Platform (GCP). When I joined Google, I was not made aware of the leveling system they have in place for employees. You are assigned a numeric level. Most people in my role were assigned a level between 2-4. The role I ultimately wanted to work up to at Google in less than 2 years was a level 5 or 6 requirement, meaning I likely had several years to wait to get the the required level to apply for promotion. In order to level up, you need to surpass expectations on consecutive performance reviews, which happen every 6 months. As you go up in levels, the time between leveling up usually takes even longer.
Each time you level up, you likely get a pay bump and / or more Google Restricted Stock Units.
I am fine with this leveling system - it is systematic and unique, however the recruiters and managers mentioned nothing about this leveling system throughout the entire interview or onboarding process - which I thought was strange.
Many of my colleagues were brought on a level above me - which I am fine with, as perhaps they were more skilled than me at the time, but we had the same level of experience. So, thinking longer term, it was a tad frustrating to worry about what level I needed to get to in order to move to the desired sales role I was seeking.
I was not actively looking for a new job, as I was very pleased working at Google in Austin, TX - however when someone reached out seeing what my interest was I told them I would be open to the opportunity.
I also came to realize, that even though Google is one of the best, if not the best company to work for, when considering all the benefits, I didn't want to let the company I work for define who I was. I quickly realized that beyond the shiny objects and perks working there, that I have bigger goals in life - and in order to achieve these goals more quickly, I needed to focus on my earnings potential.
That was the other major reason I ended up leaving - I was able to 2-3x my annual income. This helped my wife and me begin investing in real estate - specifically short term vacation rentals, that we list on Airbnb and VRBO. These investments set us financially free in less than one year after making our first ever investment.
My goal for the future is to help others achieve similar results by investing in real estate. Becoming financially free is one of the most satisfying and relieving moments of our lives, and we are certainly grateful and fortunate we were able to achieve this at age 27!
28 сен 2024
